Spur gear speed adapter



July 25, 1933- R. o. HELGr-:BY Er AL 1,919,512

SPUR GEAR SPEED ADAPTER Filed Aug. 22. 1931 m/f/ W12/lez @M W fMW,

Patented July 25,1933 A mE-D i RALPH o. .HELGEBY Ann DONALD n. wanten, or rmriniuronrenn, Assrenons To a c SPARK PLUG censeur, on rmnfr, lamme-AN, .a COMPANY or MICHIGAN SPUR enen SPEED ADAPTER.

Application ined Augursfzz, i931. ser1a1`N.'5Fe,efi1;

This invention relates vto speed adapters and has particular :reference to an adapter for installation in speedometer drives in automotive vehicles.

5 The adapter of theV invention 'comprises which confine the gears of the adapter there# in.` Each housing part has mounted therein a shaft which has a gear rigidly' mounted thereon. A freely Heating idler inthe hous ing interconnects the two gearsto 'form 'the drive. Eachhousing part has an elongated recessed portion in which' there fits a slidable block having a central opening tov receive a pin or shaft on which the idler gear is mounted. then the housing parts are sep# arated, the idler gear and blocks readily may be removed. Referring to the drawing: j

Fig. 1is a sectional view of the speed adapter applied to the universal joint of the transmission shaft on an automotive vehicle.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view looking into the g5 bearing portion there is receivedthe power take ofi' shaft 10 having the gear wheel 12 secured thereto and meshing with thegear 14 on the universal joint. Asuitable plug 16 closes the end of the bearing 8v opposite the 4() Shaft 10. i

The bearing portion 8 has an extension 18 which is screw threadedand receives the internally threaded cap 2O held by means ofl an annular flange 22' on a bearing member 24 forming a part of the speed adapter. rlhe bearing member 24 is rigidly secured in `the extension 28 of the left hand housing half 80. A mating right hand housing half 32 fits onto the housing half 8O by means of the 5o stepped connection indicated at 34. The

housing halvesBO and y32 form the housing 36 of ,the speed adapter'. The housing halves'gBOv and 82 are securedtogether by' machiney screws p'assingthroughthe openings 38.

ing sleeve 24ancl has the gearwheel @rigidly secured at its enclin the housing part 80;. Theshafts 10-fand 40`ar`e hollow as `indicated]` at 44 `and 'receive .the 'connector 46 having the keys 48 fitting inkeyways 49. FiPower is. transmittedfrom the shaft 10 to the shaft through the intermediary of the connector 46.V rlhe `housing vhalf 36 is provided with. a

5suitable opening 50 screw threaded to receive the nipple`52 of av grease cupI 54. The 4purpose of the grease cup'is to lubricate the gears in the housing 30. y Y I The housing half 3 6 has the extension 56 in which there is mounted the bearing sleeve s 58 screw threaded at its end as indicated at` 30v 60, to'receive the connecting member of the j casing of the flexible speedometer drive shaft. Turnably mounted in the bearing sleeve 58 is the shaft 62 having the hollow end 64 to receive the tip of the exible cable. A gear 66 is permanently mounted on the end 0f the shaft 62 in the housing 36 and is: positioned in the same-plane as the gear 42. The housing 3 0 has the extension 68, and the housing portion .82 has the extension 70, which mate or are oppositely positioned when thehousing halves 30 and 32 areV in position. The extensions 68 and 70 are ref cess'ed as indicated at 7 2 and 74 inlFigsL 2 and 8 and in the recesses there are received the slidable blocks 7 6 and 7 Seach of which has the central opening 8O for the reception of the ioating pin or shaft 82 on which there is mounted between the blocks 7 6 and 7 8 the floating idler. gear 84.k The blocks 76 and 78 are freely slidable in the recesses 72 and 7 4 and the gear 84 is freely turnable on the shaft 82 so that thegear 84 is a iioating gear and freely may accommodate itself to slight inaccuracies or-differences int-he position of the gears 42 and 66.` y v l Fig. 4 is in all. respects similar to Fig. 2

` except that the gears 42 and 66 have been changed to give a greater ratio therebetween. The gear 42 is larger than the gear 42, while T00 A'shaft`40 is turnably mounted in tljrebe'ar- 55' the gear 66 is smaller thanv the gear 66.

The position of the shafts 40 and 64' remains unchanged but the idler 84 and its blocks 7 6 and 78 as well as the shaft 82 have lmoved downwardly to accommodate the change in gearing. The same idler may therefore be used with various ratios of gears to accommodate ther adapter to variations in rotations of the shaft 6 or of the speedometer.

' I claim:

l. In a speed adapter, a housing, a plurality of gears in the housing, shafts extending into the housing and each having the gear secured thereto, recessed portions in said housing, blocks slidablel in said recessed portions, a gear between said blocks and meshing with the other gears, and'ajshaft passing through the gear andy blocks.

2. In a speed adapter, a housing. comprisingjtwo separable parts, shafts extending intoand mounted in said parts, a gear Von the end of each shaft in the housing, eachv vpart having a recessed portion, a block in each portion, a. pin extending between the blocks, and an idler gear mounted onthe pin between the blocks and interconnectingk the other gears.

- 3. In a speedy adapter, a housing comprisi ing two separable parts, shafts extending into and mounted in said parts, a gear on the end of each shaft in the housing, each part having a recessed portion, a block slidable in each portion, a pin extending between the blocks, vand a floating idler gear mounted on thepin between the blocks and interconnectingk the other gears.

4. In a speed adapter, a housing, a plurality of gears, means for mounting the gears in said housing, a floating shaft mounted in said housing for straight line movement at right angles to the axes of the gear, and a gear mounted on said' shaft and constantly interconnecting with said plurality of gears.

5. In a speed adapter, a housing, a plurality. of gears, means for mounting the gears. 

